Yankees send breakout reliever to injured list (but there's a silver lining)

You didn't have to be the most ardent bullpen detective, rocking a magnifying glass and bowler hat, to figure out that something was amiss in the Yankees' bullpen on Wednesday night against the Texas Rangers.

Unless Aaron Boone was less than dedicated to winning the middle game — which started with the uninspiring matchup of Jacob deGrom and Ryan Yarbrough — then there was very little reason to choose Ian Hamilton, who gave up two bombs in the seventh. There was even less of a reason to select Yerry de los Santos, the last man in the bullpen, in the eighth (though that worked and was crazy).

So, what gives? Midgame, it leaked that, predictably, reliever Fernando Cruz was battling some shoulder discomfort, though his MRI had come back relatively clean. When left-handed pitcher Brent Headrick was summoned sometime after midnight, an IL trip felt inevitable.

The Yankees made the shuffle official on Thursday morning, though Cruz seemed similarly encouraged by his own progress before a wet and wild series finale (maybe?) with the Rangers.

According to the right-hander, he intends to spend the minimum 15 days on the shelf, retroactive to his most recent usage on May 19, with "shoulder inflammation". Headrick will replace him starting Thursday, if this game is actually completed.

Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz (shoulder inflammation) hits Injured List, replaced by Brent Headrick

Cruz has been mostly phenomenal this season, with Matt Blake figuring out just how to maximize his devastating splitter to the tune of a 2.66 ERA/2.49 FIP with 35 Ks in 23 2/3 innings. His most recent outing was a 26-pitch, command-free slog against the Mets, though, at which point he immediately knew something was tugging.

Thankfully, the shoulder issue he was facing doesn't seem structurally serious, and he should be back before too long (and misses a west coast swing through Colorado and Los Angeles, every pitcher's worst nightmare).

In the meantime, Headrick — recently injured himself — will return to the bigs for the first time since making the Yankees' roster out of camp. The 27-year-old whiffed nine men in 5 1/3 frames at the MLB level earlier in the season, then posted a 3.72 ERA in eight Triple-A outings.